


Find a Fairy

by Wishing on Stars (DaisyQuartz)



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Dreams are magical, Gen, crazy update times, no real fairies, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-09-30 15:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20449109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaisyQuartz/pseuds/Wishing%20on%20Stars
Summary: Alex is a 14-year-old English boy tangled up in a world of ever shifting shadows.Liu Xing is a 13-year-old Chinese schoolgirl with very strange dreams.Two people from very different worlds are connected together when Alex meets a strange little girl with no memories and a visibility problem.





	1. Invisible Friends

Six-year-old Alex Rider was bored. He was sitting on the floor of his bedroom. Pieces of cardboard and bottles of glue were scattered all around him. He was trying to make…something, he didn’t really know what.

Uncle Ian was downstairs in the living room talking with his friends. (“Friends from work, Alex Now go upstairs.”) Alex had tried to listen in, but they had only been talking about people and places he didn’t know. Then Ian had found him and sent him to his room. (“Next time don’t make so much noise.”) Alex hoped this didn’t mean Ian would go on a trip again.

The door creaked open. Alex looked up. A girl, a bit younger than Alex, stepped in. Her black hair was pulled into small pigtails. Her black eyes flitted around the room before settling on Alex. She seemed unsure, confused.

Alex stood curious, “Are you one of Ian’s friends? I didn’t know that he invited someone not that old.”

The girl looked startled and even more confused. “_Shenme?_” she asked. It was Alex’s turn to look confused.

“Do you speak English?” Alex asked.

“Yes… I speak English…” She spoke haltingly, the words sounding foreign in her mouth.

“I’m Alex. What’s your name?”

“I…I don’t know…” she sounded confused again.

Alex blinked, “Who are your parents, then?” he tried.

She shook her head.

“You can’t remember who they are?”

“Not remember. It’s like…nothing…” she tapped her forehead, looking close to tears.

Alex didn’t know what to do.

The girl suddenly looked up, “Starr,” she said, “You can call me Starr.” Her eyes were misty and far away.

“Starr is a pretty name.”

Starr smiled the first time since entering the room. Alex decided he liked her much better when she smiled.

******

Half an hour later, Ian found Alex sprawled on the bed with a book opened in front of him.

“Uncle Ian! I found a new friend! Her name is Starr.” Alex pointed at Starr who was next to him on the bed reading his book.

Ian frowned; Alex was alone in the bed. “There is nobody there, Alex. Aren’t you too old to have an invisible friend?” He snapped.

Alex flinched, “But…”

Ian instantly felt guilty. Sometimes he forgot that Alex was only six. “I’m sorry, Alex. Umm…hello Starr.” Ian looked vaguely at the empty bed sheets Alex had just pointed to.

Alex turned to Starr. She was sitting on the bed now, staring wide-eyed at Ian. Ian’s gaze fell on the space next to Starr.

Ian shrugged and started to leave. “Oh, and don’t read while sitting down. It’s bad for your eyes.” With that, he was gone.

****

“I don’t like your uncle.” Starr said.

Alex frowned. He was cross at his uncle. Starr was there, she wasn’t his imagination!

“He can’t see me,” Star said dejectedly, “I’m not real, am I?” She reached out and touched Alex’s shoulder. Her hand passed straight through.

Alex stared in shock for a moment. Then seeing Starr’s expression, he quickly said, “You are real. Uncle Ian just can’t see you because he is not special like us.”

“Really?” Starr smiled tentatively

“Yeah.” Alex replied. “Oh, and Starr?”

“Mm?”

“You think you can run through walls?”


	2. Dream Spirit

Almost a year had passed since Alex first met Starr. Starr came almost daily now. She always appeared early in the morning and never seemed to stay for more than ten hours before disappearing, which never stopped making Alex jump. They still couldn’t find Starr’s lost memories or make anyone beside Alex see her. Starr sometimes goes to school with Alex, and her English improved a lot.

It was when Alex and Starr came back home after one of those school days that they found a woman sitting in the living room.

“Alex,” Ian’s voice was serious, “I’m going on a business trip. This nice lady is going to take care of you while I’m gone. I need you to listen to her, OK?”

“Hello Alex, I’m Jack Starbright, you can call me Jack.” Jack was dressed casually in a white T-shirt and blue jeans. Her red hair was pulled hurriedly back with a green band.

Starr smiled, “Her name is star too! I like her.”

Alex smiled too. Even though Jack couldn’t see star, he felt that he could like Jack. But… “I don’t need a babysitter!”

****

Alex did not like bullies, so when he stumbled across a boy with blood running from his nose and books scattered on the floor after an obvious beating, he had to force down his ire.

“You OK?” Alex asked.

“Yeah. I’ve got a broken nose. I’ve lost my lunch money. And they’ve told me they’re going to do it all again tomorrow. But otherwise I’m fine.” The other boy answered.

“Mike Cook?” Starr, who was standing just behind Alex, couldn’t help but ask.

“Yeah.” The boy looked up at Starr as he wiped away the blood with a paper napkin.

Alex froze and nearly dropped the books he had just collected from the floor. “You can see her?”

“Yeah, if you mean the girl behind you, she isn’t exactly hiding.”

“I guess you’re special too.” Starr beamed.

Alex regarded the boy, he had spiky black hair and there was a mischievous gleam in his blue eyes. Alex hoped that the boy would keep Starr a secret. “So …”

“Tom, I’m Tom.”

“So Tom, I’m Alex and she’s Starr. Can you meet us after class tomorrow? I think we both have Maths. Meanwhile, I should have a word with Mike.”

“Yeah, Maths.” Tom scowled, the he brightened a bit, “DO you think Mike will listen to you?”

Starr giggled, “Oh yes. Alex is very, very good with words.”

* * 1944 * *

A six-year-old girl with messy black hair sat straight up in bed.

“Mama!”

A woman came in, her hair was as dark as her daughter’s. She sat at the foot of her bed. “What’s bothering you?”

“I had a dream. There was a room. And a boy, he was strange looking. The man couldn’t see me, I didn’t like him much. It’s so fuzzy, mama.”

“Shh, it’s just a dream. Do you feel better now?”

“Yes.”

“wan’an, my little Liu Xing.”

“Wan’an mama.”

* * * *


	3. Missing (people,friends and family)

Ian was dead. Alex stared ahead at nothing, ignoring the visitors. His parents had died in a plane accident just after he had been born. Ian Rider had been the only relative he had known. Now he was dead. 

Alex had Jack, a housekeeper that seemed more like a big sister. Alex had Tom, the boy that was his best friend, Alex had Starr, a mysterious girl who nobody could see and can go through walls. 

Alex sighed "Jack, he called out, I'm going to my room." Still ignoring the visitors, he turned and went upstairs. 

***

Alex looked up. Star was sitting on his bed. By now, Alex was used to Starr appearing and disappearing. Alex didn't know where she went when she disappeared. Even Starr didn't know. 

"What's wrong" Starr asked. Alex realized that he had been too quiet. "It's…Ian died…"

"Uncle Ian…" Starr trailed off. 

Alex tried to fill the oppressive silence, "They said it was a car accident, that he wasn't wearing his seatbelt."

" But he always wears…wore his seatbelt."

" I know."

They fell silent. They were both trying to avoid thinking about it. 

" Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. not now." Not when it's so raw and uncertain, he didn't say. 

***

Alex felt envious. He'd had to dress in a stiff, dark jacket and uncomfortable black shoes. Starr on the other hand was wearing a white top and a light purple skirt. She was sitting between Alex and Jack at the back of a black car that had come from nowhere. Actually, she was sitting partially inside Jack and Alex because of the tight fit. It was disorienting.

They arrived at the Brompton Cemetery. About 30 people had turned up for the funeral, but Alex hardly recognized any of them.

As the service began, a black Rolls-Royce drove up, the back door opened and a man got out. Starr, who had been sitting against a gravestone, stood up and commented to Alex" That man looks like he belongs here, permanently."

Star was right. The man looked dead. Grey suit, grey hair, grey lips and grey eyes. His eyes were devoid of life.

Someone tapped Alex on the shoulder and he turned around to see a man, Mr. Crawley, a personnel manager, as he introduced himself before, leaning over him." That's Mr. Blunt."he whispered"He's the chairman of the bank."

Two more men had stepped out of the car. They were wearing identical suits and sunglasses, even though it wasn't particularly bright. 

" They don't look like bankers," Star was now right in front of Blunt, standing on tip-toes and examining him point blank. Star turned to the other men. She started and turned back to Alex wide-eyed. 

" Alex, they have guns!"

Alex and Starr had learned some sign language so that Alex could talk to Starr without people thinking he was crazy. 

YOU SURE? He signed, trying to pretend he was fidgeting. 

Starr rolled her eyes. " Of course. There's this faint outline of a gun. Right there," She poked at the man's jacket, her finger passing through it. 

Alex forced face to remain neutral. Bank managers carrying guns to funerals. Why? 

Star made a face and then made rabbit ears with her hands behind Blunt. " Maybe they've come to shoot some zombies."

Alex noted to himself to not let to Starr read so many horror books. 

The vicar had almost finished when Alex zoned in again. "… a good man, a patriotic man. He will be missed." His choice of words struck Alex as odd. Patriotic? That meant he loved his country. But as far as Alex knew, Ian Rider had barely spent any time in it. 

Star was obviously thinking the same thing, " Maybe it's standard?"

Alex was about to sign back when he noticed when he saw Blunt making his way towards him, stepping carefully around the graves. 

" You must be Alex." The chairman was only a little taller than him. Close to, his skin was strangely unreal. It could have been made of plastic. " My name is Alan Blunt,"he said. " Your uncle often spoke about you."

"That's funny," Alex said." He never mentioned you."

The gray lips twitched briefly. " Will miss him. He was a good man."

" What was he good at?"Alex asked. " He never talked about his work."

Suddenly Crawley was there. "Your uncle was overseas finance manager Alex," he said. "He was responsible for our foreign branches. You must have known that."

"I know he traveled a lot." Alex said. "And I know he was very careful. About things like seat belts."

"Well, sadly, he wasn't careful enough." Blunt's eyes, magnified by the thick lenses of his spectacles, lasered into his own. Then Starr popped up in front of Alex with a cheeky grin and raised her hand. Eight years of experience from keeping Starr a secret came in useful as Blunt's eyes bored into the back of Starr's hand. Alex's lips twitched, but he stopped himself from laughing. 

Blunt noticed this and intensified his glare into Starr's hand. Finally he gave up and said, "I hope we'll meet again." He tapped the side of his face with a single gray finger. "Yes." Then he turned and went back into his car. 

Alex saw the automatic pistol underneath the driver's jacket as the driver leaned down. 

"Jack" he called out, "Let's go" "Yeah, cemeteries give me the creeps. "

***

They found a removals van parked in front of the house. The words STRYKER & SON painted on the side. As it shot away, Alex and Sara shared a Look. What is that doing here?

Someone had been in the house. A letter that had been on the hall table now lay on the carpet. A door that has been half open was now closed. 

Alex reached out a hand. Starr slipped her hand into Alex. They couldn't touch, but they both drew strength from the illusion. 

Still hand in hand, they went to the top floor. 

The door to the office, which had always, always been locked, was now unlocked. Alex opened it and went in. The room was empty. Ian Rider had gone and so had everything else. The desk drawers, the cupboards, the shelves…anything that might have told him about the dead man's work had been taken.

"Alex." Jack called to him from downstairs. 

They took one last look around the forbidden room, wondering again about the man who had once worked there. Then Alex closed the door and went back down. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know sign language. And I am not English. So I apologize if I make any blunders.   
Also, do you like Starr? (y=yes n=no s=so so != She sounds like my baby sister! ?= Who is Starr?)  
If you're too busy, use the thingys above, but feel free to be specific. Comments are cherished, questions are thought opon, even flames are welcome!

**Author's Note:**

> This is not the end! There is more.


End file.
